Regulation of Railways Act, 1871

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REGULATION OF RAILWAYS ACT 1871

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

An Act to amend the Law respecting the Inspection and Regulation of Railways. [14th August 1871.]

Preliminary.

Construction and short title.

31 & 32 Vict. c. 119.

1. This Act so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof shall be construed as one with the Acts mentioned in Schedule Two to this Act and with the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as “The Regulation of Railways Acts, 1840 to 1871”; and this Act and each of the Acts mentioned in Schedule Two to this Act may be cited as “The Regulation of Railways Act” of the year in which it was passed.

Interpretation.

2. In this Act—

The term “railway” means the whole or any portion of a railway or tramway, whether worked by steam or otherwise, which has been authorized by any special Act of Parliament or by any certificate under Act of Parliament :

The term “company” means a company incorporated either before or after the passing of this Act for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, or working a railway in the United Kingdom (either alone or in conjunction with any other purpose), and includes, except when otherwise expressed, any individual or individuals not incorporated who are owners or lessees of a railway in the United Kingdom or parties to an agreement for working a railway in the United Kingdom :

The term “person” includes a body corporate :

“Court of summary jurisdiction.”

The term “court of summary jurisdiction” means any justices of the peace, metropolitan police magistrate, stipendiary magistrate, sheriff, sheriff substitute, or other magistrate, or officer, by whatever name called, who is capable of exercising jurisdiction in summary proceedings for the recovery of penalties.

Inspection of Railways.

Board of Trade may appoint in spectors of railways.

3. The Board of Trade may from time to time appoint any person to be inspector for the purpose of inspecting any railway and of making any inquiry with respect to any railway or into the cause of any railway accident which the Board of Trade are authorized to make or direct, and of enabling the Board of Trade to carry the provisions of any general Act relating to railways into execution, or for any of such purposes: Provided that no person so appointed shall exercise any powers of interference in the affairs of any company.

Powers of inspectors of railways.

4. Every inspector under this Act shall for the purposes of any inspection or inquiry which he is directed by the Board of Trade to make or conduct have the following powers; (that is to say,)

(1.) He may enter and inspect any railway and all the stations, works, buildings, offices, stock, plant, and machinery belonging thereto :

(2.) He may by summons under his hand require the attendance of any person who is engaged in the management, service, or employment of a company as defined by this Act, and whom he thinks fit to call before him and examine for the said purpose, and may require answers or returns to such inquiries for the said purpose as he thinks fit to make from such person or company :

(3.) He may require and enforce the production of all books, papers, and documents of a company which he considers important for the said purpose.

Extension of 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55. ss. 4. to 6. to new works.

5. The provisions of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1842 and the Acts amending the same, with respect to the opening of any railway, shall extend to the opening of any additional line of railway, deviation line, station, junction, or crossing on the level which forms a portion of or is directly connected with a railway on which passengers are conveyed, and has been constructed subsequently to the inspection of such railway on behalf of the Board of Trade previous to the original opening of such railway: Provided always, that the Board of Trade may, with respect to any of the works in this section mentioned, from time to time upon the application of any railway company dispense with any notice which, under the provisions of the said Acts, is required to be given to the Board of Trade previous to opening any railway.

Accidents.

Companies to make returns of accidents to Board of Trade.

6. Where in or about any railway or any of the works or buildings connected with such railway, or any building or place, whether open or enclosed, occupied by the company working such railway, any of the following accidents takes place in the course of working any railways; (that is to say,)

(1.) Any accident attended with loss of life or personal injury to any person whomsoever ;

(2.) Any collision where one of the trains is a passenger train ;

(3.) Any passenger train or any part of a passenger train accidentally leaving the rails ;

(4.) Any accident of a kind not comprised in the foregoing descriptions, but which is of such a kind as to have caused or to be likely to cause loss of life or personal injury, and which may be specified in that behalf by any order to be made from time to time by the Board of Trade,

the company working such railway, and also, if the accident happen to a train belonging to any other company, such last-mentioned company shall send notice of such accident and of the loss of life or personal injury (if any) occasioned thereby to the Board of Trade.

Such notice shall be in such form and shall contain such particulars as the Board of Trade may from time to time direct, and shall be sent by the earliest practicable post after the accident takes place.

The Board of Trade may from time to time by order direct that notice of any class of accidents shall be sent to them by telegraph, and may revoke any such order. Notice of every such order shall be sent to every railway company, and while it is in force notice of every accident of the class to which the order relates shall be sent to the Board of Trade by telegraph immediately after the accident takes place.

Every company who fail to comply with the provisions of this section shall be liable for each offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

Inquiry into accidents and formal investigation in serious cases.

7. The Board of Trade may direct an inquiry to be made by an inspector into the cause of any accident, of which notice is for the time being required by or in pursuance of this Act to be sent to the Board of Trade; and where it appears to the Board of Trade, either before or after the commencement of any such inquiry, that a more formal investigation of the accident, and of the causes thereof, and of the circumstances attending the same, is expedient, the Board of Trade may, by order, direct such investigation to be held, and with respect to such investigation the following provisions shall have effect :

(1.) The Board of Trade may, by the same or any subsequent order, appoint any person or persons possessing legal or special knowledge to assist an inspector in holding the same, or may direct the county court judge, stipendiary magistrate, metropolitan police magistrate, or other person or persons named in the same or any subsequent order, to hold the same with the assistance of an inspector or any other assessor or assessors named in the order :

(2.) The persons holding any such formal investigation (herein-after referred to as the court) shall hold the same in open court in such manner and under such conditions as they may think most effectual for ascertaining the causes and circumstances of the accident, and enabling them to make the report in this section mentioned :

(3.) The court shall have for the purpose of such investigation all the powers of a court of summary jurisdiction when acting as a court in the exercise of its ordinary jurisdiction, and all the powers of an inspector under this Act, and in addition the following powers; namely,

(a.) They may enter and inspect any place or building the entry or inspection whereof appears to them requisite for the said purpose :

(b.) They may by summons under their hands require the attendance of all such persons as they think fit to call before them and examine for the said purpose, and may for such purpose require answers or returns to such inquiries as they think fit to make :

(c.) They may require and enforce the production of all books, papers, and documents which they consider important for the said purpose :

(d.) They may administer an oath, and require any person examined to make and sign a declaration of the truth of the statements made by him in his examination :

(e.) Every person so summoned not being a person engaged in the management, service, or employment of a company, or otherwise connected with a company, shall be allowed such expenses as would be allowed to a witness attending on subpœna before a court of record; and in case of dispute as to the amount to be allowed, the name shall be referred by the court to a master of one of the superior courts, who, on request under the hands of the members of the court, shall ascertain and certify the proper amount of such expenses :

(4.) The inspector making an inquiry into any accident and the court holding an investigation of any accident shall make a report to the Board of Trade stating the causes of the accident and all the circumstances attending the same, and any observations thereon or on the evidence or on any matters arising out of the investigation which they think right to make to the Board of Trade, and the Board of Trade shall cause every such report to be made public in such manner as they think expedient.

Appointment of an assessor to coroner.

8. Where any coroner in England holds or is about to hold an inquest on the death of any person occasioned by an accident, of which notice for the time being is required by or in pursuance of this Act to be sent to the Board of Trade, and makes a written request to the Board of Trade in this behalf, the Board of Trade may appoint an inspector or some person possessing legal or special knowledge to assist in holding such inquest, and such appointee shall act as the assessor of the coroner, and shall make the like report to the Board of Trade, and the report shall be made public in like manner as in the case of a formal investigation of an accident under this Act.

Railway Statistics.

Companies to furnish statements of capital, traffic, and working expenditure.

9.[¹] Every company shall annually prepare returns of their capital, traffic, and working expenditure for the last preceding financial year of the company in accordance with the forms contained in Schedule One to this Act, and a copy of each return signed by the chairman or deputy chairman of the directors of the company, and by the officer of the company responsible for the correctness of each return, or any part thereof, shall be forwarded by the company to the Board of Trade at the times following; (that is to say,)

if the company is an incorporated company, within fourteen days after the first ordinary half-yearly meeting of the company held in each year :

if the company is not an incorporated company, or fails to hold half-yearly meetings, not later than the thirty-first day of March in each year.

Any company which fails to forward the said return in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such default continues.

The Board of Trade, with the consent of a company, may alter the said forms as regards such company for the purpose of adapting them to the circumstances of such company or of better carrying into effect the objects of this section.

Penalty for false return.

10. If any return which is required by this Act is false in any particular to the knowledge of any person who signs the same, such person shall be liable on conviction thereof on indictment to fine and imprisonment or on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

Miscellaneous.

Disobedience to or obstruction of inspector or court.

11. If any person, without reasonable excuse (proof whereof shall lie on him), does any of the following things; namely,

(1.) Having been summoned, and having had the expenses (if any) to which he is entitled tendered to him, fails to attend as a witness before any inspector under this Act, or before a court holding an investigation under this Act, or fails when required by the inspector or such court in pursuance of this Act so to do, to make any answer, or to give any return, or to produce any document, or to make or sign any declaration; or

(2.) Prevents or impedes the inspector or such court in the execution of his or their duty,

he shall for every such offence incur a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and in the case of a refusal to make any return or produce any document, not exceeding ten pounds during every day that such failure continues; and where the offence consists of preventing or impeding as aforesaid, the inspector, or any member of such court, or any person called by him to his assistance, may seize and detain the offender until he can be conveniently taken before a court of summary jurisdiction, to be dealt with according to law.

Limitation of liability of companies on sea voyages in certain cases.

12. Where a railway company under a contract for carrying persons, animals, or goods by sea procure the same to be carried in a vessel not belonging to the railway company, the railway company shall be answerable in damages in respect of loss of life or personal injury, or in respect of loss of or damage to animals or goods, in like manner and to the same amount as the railway company would be answerable if the vessel had belonged to the railway company; provided that such loss of life or personal injury, or loss or damage to animals or goods, happens to the person, animals, or goods (as the case may be) during the carriage of the same in such vessel, the proof to the contrary to lie upon the railway company.

[S. 13. (amending 10 & 11 Vict. c. 82.; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 37.) is rep. as to E., 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, and spent or superseded by the repeal of the amended Acts. See now as to punishment of juvenile offenders, 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, as to England, and 47 & 48 Vict. c. 19. as to Ireland.]

[S. 14 (partly rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39. (S.L.R.)) inserts a word in 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119. s. 23.; see that section.]

Recovery, &c. of penalties. 8 & 9 Vict. cc. 20, 33.

15. Every penalty imposed by this Act shall be recovered and applied in the same manner as penalties imposed by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, and the Railways Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845 (as the case may require), are for the time being recoverable and applicable.

Application of Act to Scotland.

16. In the application of this Act to Scotland—

(1.) The term “attending on subpœna before a court of record” means attending on citation the Court of Justiciary.

(2.) The Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer shall perform the duties of a master of one of the Superior Courts under this Act.

(3.) The term “stipendiary magistrate” means a sheriff or sheriff substitute.

[S. 17 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39. (S.L.R.) S. 18 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 54. (S.L.R.)]

SCHEDULE ONE.[¹]

SCHEDULE TWO.

Sect. 1 .

[¹ The returns required under this section include such statements as the Board of Trade may prescribe, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 25. s. 32, and the forms in Schedule One have been superseded by forms prescribed by the Board of Trade under that Act.]

[¹ See note to s. 9.]